Islanders clinch Calder Cup playoff berth in Bridgeport farewell season

A 4-1 win over Hartford turned Bridgeport’s final regular-season home game in franchise history into a postseason sendoff, giving the Islanders a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs and stretching their home winning streak to a franchise-record 10 games.

The clinch carried unusual weight because it came in the club’s last season in Bridgeport. The franchise, which began as the Sound Tigers in 2001, is scheduled to move to Hamilton, Ontario, for the 2026-27 season after the American Hockey League Board of Governors approved the relocation on March 31. That move will send the team to the newly renovated TD Coliseum and end a 25-year run in Bridgeport.

On the ice, the Islanders did enough to lock in their 11th playoff appearance in franchise history and their first since the 2021-22 season. Chris Terry scored in the victory and continued to widen his lead as the franchise’s all-time point leader, a mark he set at 204 points on April 9, 2025. The result also left Bridgeport in position to chase the No. 4 seed; if it holds, it would be the club’s highest playoff seeding since 2018-19, when it finished second in the Atlantic Division.

That kind of turnaround gives the run a sharper edge. Bridgeport had finished 32nd in the AHL in consecutive seasons before this push, making the 10-game home streak and the playoff berth a significant reversal in a season that had already taken on added meaning as the team’s farewell chapter in the city. Rocky Thompson, hired as head coach on June 23, 2025 after three seasons as an assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers, has guided the group through the final stretch with the pressure of a relocation already hanging over the organization.

The Islanders’ official message after the clinch thanked the City of Bridgeport and its fans for 25 years of support, underscoring the emotion around a postseason run that now doubles as a closing statement. With the regular season winding down, the club has given Bridgeport one more tangible piece of history before the calendar turns toward Hamilton and a new home.